Vaccine rule boosts Oakland businesses
Proof requirement will help everyone feel safer, owners say
As Oakland prepares to enforce a new mandate Tuesday that requires patrons to show proof of COVID vaccination in indoor restaurants, bars, theaters, clubs and other establishments, many business owners said they welcome the new policy.
Oakland is the latest Bay Area city to embrace the policy. In August, San Francisco became the first major city in the country to require proof of full vaccination in some indoor businesses. A month later, Berkeley followed.
Oakland’s emergency ordinance, passed in December, applies to establishments where food and drinks are served, entertainment venues, fitness centers, senior adult care facilities and programs, and City Hall. The ordinance also applies to large indoor events.
The mandate applies to people ages 12 and up. While people ages 12 to 17 have to show proof of vaccination, they don’t need to show a photo ID People with medical exemptions don’t have to show proof of vaccination.
The ordinance will stay in effect until the council lifts the local state of emergency because of COVID.
Council Member Dan Kalb, who introduced the ordinance, said Thursday the move is meant to keep residents safe and to encourage people to get vaccinated. So far, more than 85% of Oakland’s eligible population has received at least one dose of the vaccine and more than 78% are fully vaccinated.
“This is an effort to ensure that we do all the things we reasonably can do here locally, as a number of other cities and counties have done, to reduce the spread of COVID-19,” Kalb said.
Health experts said the move is a positive one as the region grapples with a surge in omicron cases. Dr.
John Swartzberg, an expert in infectious disease at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health, said indoor settings, such as restaurants or bars, where people aren’t wearing masks can put people at risk and that the new mandate is a good idea.
“This will be a way of ensuring a greater degree of safety for the patrons and the workers,” he said, adding that restaurant and bar staff deal with “terribly risky” situations because they come into contact with many different people over a longer period of time during their shifts.
Business owners applauded the city’s move. Some said they enforced their own vaccination rules before Oakland leaders passed the ordinance.
A sign outside Roses’ Taproom, a bar off Oakland’s Telegraph Avenue, reads that patrons must show a proof of vaccine to sit indoors at a table. If they want to sit at the establishment’s bar, they have to show proof of a booster shot.
Hillary Huffard, the bar’s owner, said she decided to issue a vaccination requirement in August because of an increase in positive cases in Oakland at the time.
The rule also made staff “feel safer” when the bar decided to open its doors to indoor seating, Huffard said. That feeling of safety extends to the clientele, she added.
“We feel like we are protecting one another,” Huffard said. “We think that our guests appreciate knowing that if they are coming inside here, they will be around other vaccinated folks.”
Nearby, several restaurants along Telegraph Avenue had taped signs in their windows that alerted passersby of the upcoming rules. At Artichoke Basille’s, the sign was printed off the city’s website and read in various languages: “Proof of Vaccination Required Indoors.”
Yoshi Tateyama, a team leader at Marufuku Ramen, said he had just printed the sign and was planning to post it in the restaurant’s window. He said he is pleased to see the city enforce a proof of vaccine requirement because it would help keep his staff safe.
At Aunt Mary’s Cafe, less than a quarter mile from Roses’ Taproom, Nu Ho, the co-owner, said she started enforcing a vaccination rule for patrons about two weeks ago once she heard the City Council passed the emergency ordinance.
“Once the city voted for it, we said, ‘great,’ ” Ho said. “I have such a small staff, and if they get sick then it’s a labor shortage.”
Sarah McClendon, the owner of ProAction Athletics, said the rule is a “long time coming” and will be especially helpful for fitness centers because some people have felt too nervous to return.
“People are afraid to go in,” McClendon said. “You have to have trust in the people around you. Mandating proof of vaccine will hopefully help us to get people back inside.”
The policy also changes rules around entering City Hall. People can still enter City Hall without proof of vaccination as long as they have a recent negative coronavirus test and a photo ID or library card.
People who attend public meetings at City Hall would not be required to show vaccine proof. Council meetings are currently remote.
The city’s rule states that patrons can enter businesses “briefly” without showing a proof of vaccination to use the restroom, place an order and pick up or pay for food to go. They must, however, wear a “well-fitting mask” at all times. Libraries and dental offices are exempt from the rule.